The Not So Happy Holidays
by genius-with-anxiety
Summary: Damon and Elena enjoy a Christmas night together with friends and family. But will the past come back to haunt them? Established Damon/Elena, sort of Stefan/Caroline. Christmassy one shot written for TVD Secret Santa. Merry Christmas, random-things-about-love!


**A/N: Hey guys! This is my Christmas One-Shot for tumblr user random-things-about-love for TVD Secret Santa! Merry Christmas, sweetheart! I tweaked a couple of things, like the fact that even though this fic jumps right off of 6x10, I had to write the car scene myself. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters written here, this is done purely for entertainment and I am not doing this for any sort of profit.**

The fire crackled and illuminated the Salvatore living room with a warm, red glow as Elena finished the last of her hot cocoa, snuggled up to Damon on the couch. She looked up at the big Christmas tree in the middle of the room. It sparkled so beautifully, and she was mesmerized by it. Due to a large lack of happiness during this Christmas year, Elena had insisted in getting a tree and having everyone decorate it. She mostly did it for Caroline, because of her mom. Of course Elena knew what that was like, losing your own mother. It took quite a bit of convincing before Damon agreed to do it, but she was confident he would let her. She knew he'd do anything for his girl. So there it sat, all big and beautiful and it was warm and she realized Damon had fallen asleep. She took a moment to run her fingers through his hair and down his face, taking in that peaceful face he always had when he slept. Smiling to herself, she got up and headed to the kitchen to start on the dinner dishes.

Damon took in his surroundings as we awoke from his sleep, realizing he was alone. Then, hearing the sound of running water in the kitchen, he quickly got up and wandered in to see Elena washing dishes. She was doing the simplest thing one could do, and somehow she still managed to be the most beautiful woman on the planet.

Seeing him in the doorway, she smiled. "Morning sleepyhead."

"Shut up," he muttered, grinning up at his girl.

"Want to come help me with these?" she asked. "I just finished the washing up, but I could use a little drying help."

With a nod, Damon headed over to the sink and picked up a plate from the pile that Elena had started.

"So, Caroline and Stefan, huh? Who knew?" He looked over with his signature smirk plastered on his face.

"Oh, that," She replied nonchalantly. "I've been talking with Caroline about it for a while. I think she decided that right now's not really the best time for a relationship, you know?"

"Well, that makes sense, I mean, after everything with Liz…" he trailed off. Even though Liz wasn't exactly his best friend forever, she was still a great sheriff, and he could definitely say he missed her. Not to mention that he died because he took all that time saving her. Kind of rude to go die on him, really. His thoughts were interrupted by Elena's voice.

"Damon? You okay in there?" she asked, concern on her tone.

"Yeah, I'm good," he replied. "I just… I kind of miss her too, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," she said, her hands on his face. "We all miss her."

Damon's eyes fluttered down to her lips as he tried to lighten the mood. He leaned in and locked his lips onto Elena's, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. Before they knew it, he had lifted her legs onto the countertop and she was starting to grab at the hem of his shirt. Soft kisses were being feathered down her neck and were getting dangerously close to her chest. Elena whispered his name, her hands tangling his scalp-

"So, did you guys forget about game night, or…"

"Caroline! Sorry," Elena exclaimed, trying to push Damon off of her with embarrassment. He groaned in irritation, letting up and moving to the sink to finish drying the forgotten dishes.

"We'll be right out, Caroline," he heard Elena say as he drifted back into his thoughts. _Maybe next time, _he thought to himself.

* * *

><p>"Yes! In your face, Stefan!" Caroline's voice echoed through the living room. She just scored 2,000 points in <em>Farkle, <em>the dice game they were playing. Elena jotted down the score, adding up her total to 5,350. Stefan dropped his head in defeat, chuckling as he grabbed another sip of his beer.

"Psst! Damon!" Elena whispered. "Check it out."

Caroline was currently being lifted off the ground and carried into the kitchen by Stefan. It was obvious that they were both pretty drunk at this point, which made the two vampires left on the couch giggle like high school kids.

"I'm glad to see them happy," Damon said, pulling Elena closer to him. She looked up at him and smiled, placing a quick kiss on his lips.

"I'm glad to see _you _happy," she whispered over his lips, pulling him into another kiss. His arms wrapped tighter, sliding down her waist and grabbing at her shirt. Sadly for them, the other two drunk ones decided to return from their kitchen journey.

"We found more alcohol!" Caroline shouted, eyes huge with excitement, like this was the most important moment in her life. This only resulted in more laughing from everyone else. Damon stood up from his place on the couch and gently pulled the bottle from Caroline's grasp.

"I think we've had enough of this for tonight, don't you?" he said calmly. "Let's open presents now."

"Yay, presents!" Caroline yelped, clapping her hands and vamp-speeding to the couch in her excitement. Stefan stumbled after her, grinning stupidly. The four had decided to do secret santa again this year, and the setup was "almost definitely rigged" according to Caroline, who got Elena. Conveniently enough, Stefan got Caroline, Damon got Stefan, and Elena got Damon. So gifts were exchanged, most of them humorous, and Caroline went home, only after Elena insisted on driving her.

"Hey, Damon, I know we agreed on no gifts this year," Stefan said after the girls had left. "But I thought since I had it anyway I'd give it to you. "

"Give me what?" Damon asked, curiosity in his eyes.

"Follow me," Stefan replied.

The two brothers walked out of the house together, and towards the garage.

"Close your eyes," Stefan said, not wanting to spoil it too early. Damon's eyes fluttered shut as he waited in silent anticipation. Stefan opened the door to the garage revealing that blue Camaro, complete and ready to drive.

"Okay, open," Stefan told his brother.

When Damon's eyes opened, you could see his face light up instantly.

"What?" the older Salvatore's voice was filled with excitement as he tried to realize what was happening. "This was gone!" He exclaimed, running over to the car and placing his hands on the door handle. He looked up at Stefan expectantly, silently asking to open the door.

"Go ahead, it's your car," Stefan said simply, a smile on his face. Damon pulled the door open, jumping inside and letting out a long breath.

"Ah, man, I missed this," he whispered to himself, seeing the key in the ignition. He turned it, hearing the engine roar to life. Tentatively, he placed his foot on the gas pedal, and then drove the car out into the driveway. He grinned, a childish excitement taking over as he parked that car in the middle of the driveway and jumped out to hug his brother.

"Thank you," he said, smile still plastered to his face.

"Consider it an early Christmas, late 'welcome back from the dead' present," Stefan replied, returning the smile. "Why don't you take it for a spin?"

"I want to wait until Elena gets back," Damon replied simply.

"Why wait?" Stefan asked. "Just go get her from Caroline's house. She's going to need a ride home from there anyway."

Contemplating his brother's advice, Damon decided to take it. He jumped back in the car, taking it off park and heading down the road. He pulled out his phone to call Elena, just to let her know he was on his way. He heard the voicemail message come on, and after leaving a short message for her, he hung up. _Must be busy sobering up Caroline, _he thought with a smile.

* * *

><p>Elena woke up in the car, touching her forehead and looking at her hand, sticky blood covering it. She took in her surroundings, realizing the car was on its side. She frantically searched the passenger seat, seeing no blonde vampire next to her.<p>

"Caroline!" she shouted, hoping maybe she got out and was just waiting for help. Elena was wrong, however, there was no Caroline anywhere to be seen. Now trying to get her phone from her pocket, Elena grabbed at the seatbelt, in desperate attempts to free herself and get out. Although she was unsuccessful in get the seatbelt undone, she managed to get her phone. There was a message from Damon, which after hearing, made her hopeful as she pushed the Damon button and waited for him to pick up. She told herself she wasn't going to cry, but when she heard his voice over the phone, she felt the tears start to brim and before she knew it, she was a mess, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Hey, hey, Elena slow down, you're ok, just tell me where you are," Damon's voice said through the phone. "Tell me what happened."

After explaining through tears and panic what had happened, Elena listened as Damon told her the plan. After a few minutes of waiting, she saw the headlights of the Camaro on the road and relief flooded through her. Damon jumped out of the car and vamp-sped over to the car.

"Hey there, let's get you out," he said, examining any injuries that his girl might have. "Elena, I'm going to need you to break the windshield, okay?"

Elena nodded, making a fist and smashing through the windshield while taking deep breaths, trying desperately to calm herself.

"Okay, I'm going to get your seatbelt now," Damon said calmly. He reached over the frame and held up Elena's torso, fumbling a bit with the buckle before finally undoing it and pulling her into his waiting embrace.

"See? You're fine, Elena," he told her, relief in his voice as he ran is hands through her hair. "Now let's go find Caroline."

* * *

><p>Caroline squinted as she woke to bright lights blinding her. She could hear voices begin to come in clearer as she woke up completely.<p>

"Oh, look, she's awake," one of the voices said. It sounded feminine, but she couldn't quite tell whose voice it was. At least not until the woman's face was directly in her line of vision.

"Hey, sweetie, you're awake!" The woman exclaimed, a false smile spreading across her face. "We'd like to know where the rest of you are."

"What do you mean?" Caroline demanded.

"My name is Amanda Petrova," she replied. "I'm Nadia Petrova's daughter. And I want to know where the one who killed my mother is."

* * *

><p>"Did Caroline have her phone with her?" Damon asked, reaching his hand over to the passenger's side of the Camaro to take Elena's hand. They decided to head back to the Salvatore mansion to sort out what to do. Damon had already called Stefan, who, now panicking, was doing everything he could to help find Caroline.<p>

"Yes, but I've called it a thousand times; she hasn't answered," Elena replied, trying desperately to stop the tears that were still streaking her face.

"That's okay, Elena," Damon said soothingly. "That's not what I was thinking. If Caroline still has her phone with her, maybe we can track her down. She's got an iPhone right?"

Elena nodded.

"Okay, so we use location services to track her phone," he said coolly. "Hey. Hey, Elena, we'll find her."

Damon squeezed her hand and ran his thumb over it, trying the calm the storm growing inside her. All poor Elena could do was nod, and wipe her face for the thousandth time.

When they finally got back to house and explained the game plan to Stefan, they sat down for a moment to collect their thoughts. Elena went upstairs to the bathroom to clean herself up and change, and the brothers talked over the plan one more time. Finally, Elena emerged at the bottom of that stairs, calmed, collected, and ready to save her best friend.

"Let's go," she said, sounding a little more confident than before.

"We got an address," Stefan told her.

"Great," she replied, a smile starting to form on her lips.

The three headed out the door and into the car, before driving into the night.

* * *

><p>One stab in the leg, the arm, her stomach. Caroline screamed with the pain as Amanda tried to inflict as much of it as possible, hoping to get something out of her. The chocolate brown eyes that the Petrova inherited were so piercing and evil, it felt almost as if Caroline were being stabbed with a simple glare.<p>

"I'm going to ask you one more time," Amanda said sternly. "Where is the one who killed my mother?"

Caroline said nothing, only continued to let the tears stream down her face as the silence between the two deafened her. Even though she and Tyler weren't together anymore, and hadn't been for quite a while, Caroline still cared about him. She certainly wasn't going to let another annoying Petrova get a hold of him. It hurt, though, the deeper the stake went, the more it seemed like giving up was the only way. So she remembered her friends. Elena, Stefan, Bonnie, Matt, Tyler, maybe even Damon, and she kept her mouth shut.

"Surprise!" the sound of Damon's voice as he burst through the door to the warehouse sounded unbelievably relieving. Amanda, and the other two vampires who were helping her jumped into action, lunging at the three that had now gathered in the doorway.

"Not so fast," Elena said with a grin, driving a stake through one of the two men. Amanda looked up from her fight with Stefan.

"Katherine?"

The veins of desiccation began to spread on the Petrova's face as Stefan's stake drove deeper into her heart.

"Thought we were done with those damn Petrovas," Damon muttered. Stefan ran to the chair where Caroline was, removing the vervain rope and checking her injuries.

When they finally made it back to the Salvatore mansion, most of Caroline's wounds had healed, and Elena lent her fresh clothes to change into after a much needed shower. Everyone was starting on drinks when she finally came downstairs.

"Well, Merry Christmas, am I right?" Caroline mused. She got a laugh out of the other three, and sat down at the table.

"I vote we get drunk again," she announced proudly.

Damon and Elena exchanged looks, smiling at each other. _Merry Christmas indeed, _Elena thought.


End file.
